The Dark Side of Change
by Twackycat
Summary: Third in the Change Series. It's been four years since The Fallen attacked, and things are changing again. Things that should have been left in the past are resurfacing and are bringing dark changes. Bayverse AU rated T.


**A/N: I'm back! I'm not dead, I've just had Finals at school, which is now over for me. So here's the third book in the Change series! Which kinda means if you haven't read the first two you'll be confused about this. As a reminder, I don't own Transformers, Hasbro does, and this is an alternate universe to the live action transformers movies. Rated T for violence and some language. Enjoy the chapter!**

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_It had been about three months since the Xanthium had come to earth, and those that came with it were fitting in with those of use that had been here for longer. I really got to know Mirage because he was also a scout and we got put on patrols together._

_It was easy to see why Mirage and the terror twins were friends, all three of them were pranksters, if the terror twins were bad, adding Mirage to them made everyone on base on edge. The only two on base who hadn't gotten pranked were me and my father, they didn't want to prank Prime, but they were trying to teach me to be a prankster as well. _

_Mirage and I were returning from a patrol, both of us tired, and just ready to get some recharge. We had just pulled into the main hanger when the alarms went off. Immediately both of us were in our mech forms, weapons out and systems on high alert._

"We've got incoming Decepticons! Everyone on alert!" _My father's voice came on over the comm link, while at the same time the other Autobots in the hanger were transforming, getting ready for battle._ "Starscream has been sighted along with several other unknown Decepticons."

_It was then that an explosion went off, and the whole base shook. I heard my father calling something out, that I didn't hear over the screaming and yelling of the soldiers. Before I could ask my father to repeat what he said, the ground started shaking more violently than it should have from a simple explosion. _

_Right then, what appeared to be a large rotating, razor sharp cable sprung up from the ground. It was nearly as big as I was, and judging from the rumbling, it wasn't the only one. At that moment I hated to be right, as several more of the broke through the concrete and asphalt that made up the floor of the hanger. _

_"Autobots get out of the hanger, and defend against the Decepticons." My father called this out as he drew his energon sword, swinging it at one of the protruding cables, cutting it clean in two. I pushed Mirage towards the entrance, and he didn't seem to hesitate. I however turned to see if there was anyone I could help. _

_"Bumblebee!" At the sound of my name, my helm snapped in the direction, and I saw the Chevy twins, Skids wrapped in one of the cables, while Mudflap was had three cables jutting out of the floor around him, stopping him from moving. _

_However annoying and immature the twins could be, they were still part of the team, and I needed to help them. I had just taken a step towards them, when the cable around Skids seemed to realize I was trying to help them, and tightened its grip, before drilling its head straight through Skids's spark chamber._

_Skids didn't have time to scream before his optics went dark, and my steps faltered. I snapped out of my slight daze, when I heard Mudflap screaming. He had collapsed to his knees, and was clutching at his chest, obviously in pain from his broken bond. _

_The three cables around the grieving mech drew back for half a second, as if in shock, before moving almost like one creature, and slamming down on the red Chevy. It made me sick to my tank, when I saw the spray of energon fly into the air. _

_After half a second, I switched out my right servo for my blade, and ran at where the cables had just murdered the Chevy twins. The cables didn't seem to realize that I was approaching them, until I nearly cut through one of them, and it seemed to let out a screech of pain, causing the others to turn towards me._

_"Bumblebee, we need to get out of here!" I didn't turn when I heard my mother's voice, instead exchanging my blade for my blaster, unleashing a short volley of shots at the group of cables. Then I felt a firm hand dragging me backwards, away from the cables. _

_After stumbling I turned and ran after my mom towards where dad and most of the others were standing. I noticed Elita was limping, and I immediately picked her up, easily getting both of us out of the nearly collapsing hanger. _

_Once outside with the others, I looked at my mom's leg to see what was wrong with it, only to see no sigh of injury. I flinched when a large explosion sounded behind us, and I looked over my shoulder watching the hanger be consumed in a ball of flame._

_Two screams pierced the air as our home collapsed, and my mother curled in upon herself, keeping her servos over her spark. Looking up for a second, I see Ironhide holding Chromia. Immediately I glanced around, dread filling me as I realized we were missing two more other than the Chevy twins._

_Without warning the terror twins and Mirage shot off, towards where the forms of Starscream, and the other Decepticons were retreating into the distance, obviously thinking their job was done. There was silence among the Autobots for a second, before the smoldering remains of the hanger exploded again._

_Rather than being an explosion from above it was an explosion from below, sending molten pieces of rubble spewing into the air, revealing the largest cable yet. It was easily thirty or so feet in diameter, and obviously the one in charge. It seemed almost transform, parts folding back to reveal a mech with a single blood red optic. _

_"Shockwave." My father growled this at the mech, and I could only assume it was his designation. Optimus drew his sword again, at the same time as Shockwave raised one of his arms, which I then realized was nothing but a cannon and fired._

_My first thought was to laugh, the shot missed my father completely, but that was when I realized that Optimus wasn't Shockwave's target. I couldn't properly dodge with my mother unconscious in my lap, but I leaned far enough it hit my shoulder instead of my spark._

I sat up suddenly, breathing heavily, gritting my teeth as phantom pains laced through my shoulder. Almost immediately strong yet gentle hands gripped my shoulders, and I looked into my father's eyes which were laced with worry for me.

"Bumblebee, it was just a nightmare, you're fine." I just looked at him for a second, before nodding my head. "Which was is? Tyger Pax?" I shook my head. "Megatron or The Fallen?" Again I shook my head. "The Chevy twins and Shockwave?"

When I nodded my head to this, my father pulled me into an embrace. We stayed like that for close to a minute, my father gently rubbing my back. When he stopped he lifted my chin up so that I had to look him in the eyes.

"Bumblebee, I know you feel like their deaths are your fault, but there was nothing you could have done. I couldn't have done anything in that situation." I turned my head away from him, not able to keep looking at him.

_"You could have saved them, you're Prime." _As soon as I shared my thought through our bond, my father responded with irritation, with a little bit of disappointment.

"That doesn't mean I could have saved them. And don't forget, you're a Prime too Novellus." I flinched slightly when my dad said my Prime name, I really didn't feel like I deserved to be called a Prime.

_"I don't feel like a Prime." _Immediately my father tried to comfort me again. My father opened his mouth to say something, and then thought better of it, and rubbed my wings gently. I still thought it was weird that I had metal wings when I was in human form.

Ratchet explained it as they weren't how I was originally built so they weren't concealed when I was a human. Basically it mean I always had to wear a shirt as a human, which was perfectly fine with me. That was when a knock came from the door.

"Bee, Prime, don't forget that we have the introduction meeting with the new members at 07:30." Jazz called this from the other side of the door, before we heard his footsteps retreating. My father looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get up." My father said this as he stood up, before turning to where his closest was, muttering as he opened the door. "And get this over with as fast as we can." I smiled, comforted knowing my father was just like every other mech.

Standing up myself, I walked over to my own closest, and pulled out a fresh set of clothes. Since we moved into the new base nearly four years ago, they had those of us able to shift into humans sharing rooms.

My father and I shared, because my father thought it best at the time, when I was still really shaken by the Chevy twin's death. My mother and Chromia shared a room, with an extra cot in there as well, where Arcee would have slept if she had survived the attack, like Jolt would have shared a room with Ratchet if he hadn't been with Arcee.

Sunny and Sides shared a room, while Jazz and Prowl did as well, leaving Ironhide the only mech to get a room to himself. Mirage and Wheeljack slept in the main hanger, while Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers slept in a different hanger near where the Xanthium was being kept.

"Come on Bee, let's go get some energon, before we have to meet the new recruits." I nodded in agreement, not like being stared at by hundreds of new faces, and then having to explain why I didn't talk like the others.

On our way to the main hanger, we were greeted by several soldiers as well as Ironhide and Prowl. I was a little nervous when I saw the a majority of the new recruits were already in the main hanger when we got there, but I would live.

Shortly after we moved into the new base, I had Ratchet set it up so that any texts I got would appear in the upper right hand corner of my vision as a text box so I wouldn't have to keep pulling my phone out to talk to people. So I wasn't surprised when a box appeared in my vision, but I was surprised at the sender.

_'Does this number still belong to Bee Pax?' _The contact that was pulled up with the text was Laura's, which surprised me, because hadn't talked to her since we both graduated high school. When I responded back with yes, she sent back nearly immediately. _'Good I was worried that you had changed numbers.' _

I rolled my eyes and asked her what had been going on with her lately, while my father handed me a bottle of energon. _'Well, I passed my military training a month ago, and I'm finally found out what regiment I'm part of.'_

After I drank my energon, I followed him out of the hanger, shifting to my mech form, before collapsing into my alt mode, and driving back into the hanger, trying to as inconspicous as a bright yellow Camaro could be in a military hanger. _'I got assigned to the 4592nd regiment, what regiment did you say your father was a part of?' _

I had to stop myself from slamming on my breaks when I got her text. The 4592nd regiment was Autobots, which meant Laura was one of the new recruits that came in today. Before I could respond back to her I got a second text from her. _'Meeting is about to start, text ya later.' _

I let out a sigh, knowing that I'd probably have to explain this all to her later. At the moment, the meeting was about to start, so I parked in between my father's alt modes and my mother's, before activating my holoform and stepping out of my alt mode, walking around to lean against the hood.

My father's holoform glanced at me giving me a smile, before looking towards where Lennox was standing and nodding. Lennox nodded back, and then quickly looked down the rest of the line of Autobots, double checking we were all ready, before walking out in front of us.

"Hello, and welcome to the 4592nd regiment, but we usually call it NEST, I'm Colonel William Lennox, your commanding officer. Now the first thing I have to say is that we're a giant family here, and that includes _everyone._" The emphasis on everyone meaning the Autobots as well. "Now, that being said, I also have to emphasis that this is top team is top secret.

"As I said, we're NEST, standing Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Team. We work together with the Autobots to defeat the Decepticons, as well as the occasional human threat. Now I'll let the leader of the Autobots take it from here." Lennox stepped to the side of where the new recruits were gathered, while they murmured among themselves.

All of the noise stopped in the room when my father started to transform. I always found it amazing to watch others transform, and knew that those who hadn't seen it before were usually speechless. Once my father stood at his full height he looked down at the humans for a second before kneeling down.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, and these are my officers." Optimus motioned towards the rest of us, and I had to make myself not move under all of the eyes in my direction. "Elita-one is my second in command, with Jazz being third in command. Ratchet is our chief medical officer. Ironhide and Chromia are our weapons specialists, while Wheeljack is our engineer and scientist. Prowl is our chief strategist, the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are our front liners, Mirage is our spy and saboteur, and Bumblebee is our scout and next Prime."

All of us transformed when my father called our names, giving the humans a chance to match a name and job to a face. I stood there quietly while my father explained the Autobot-Decepticon war as well as explaining that we could create holoforms, and some of us could change to be human.

I was glad when the meeting was over, I was planning on finding a less crowded place so I wouldn't have to deal with all of the looks I was getting. That was the worst part of getting new recruits. Of course, I was stopped by Sideswipe grabbing my shoulder.

"Where are you going? We gotta leave in a few minutes, remember, we got the illegal nuclear site in the middle east?" Right, I'd completely forgot about that. I nodded, and was about to follow Sideswipe to where Mirage was waiting by the entrance to the hanger, when my father spoke up.

"Actually, slight change in plans, Sunstreaker will go with you and Mirage, Bumblebee, will accompany me." The red twin nodded, before running off to find his yellow counterpart. "Bumblebee, we will still need to leave immediately, if we are to arrive at Chernobyl on time."

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**A/N: I really actually feel kinda bad for the Chevy twins... And Arcee and Jolt, I had to explain why they weren't in the third movie. Elita is still here 'cause she's Bee's mom, and Chromia is still here because I have other plans for her. Well, see ya next chapter, because if I'm on the third book in the series, I'm just assuming you guys want me to me what you thought of the chapter! See ya in probably less than a week. **


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